“Where do I start?My fiancƒÂ©e went to view ......”
1 Star Review
Apr 17,2014
By:
'Average'
Apr 17,2014
Branch: Wrexham, 53 Hope St
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: LL15
Branch: Wrexham, 53 Hope St
Lettings (Prospective customer)
Postcode: LL15
6
people found
this helpful
Where do I start?
My fiancƒÂ©e went to view this property at the end of February beginning of March and it was left in a pretty bad state by the previous tenants. My fiancƒÂ©e was assured that the property would be fixed and returned to a state that was fit to rent, we also enquired about getting a tumble dyer included in the price which was agreed and later confirmed to us by email (after being agreed verbally it took them some time to confirm it in writing, a recurring sequence with this branch). This property was also being advertised at having no fees which made us even more interested in renting. My FiancƒÂ©e confirmed this with John while on the viewing and it was confirmed back that the only charge that we would be paying would be our reference fees.
After these assurances were made we agreed to pay the £228 reference fees to get the ball rolling.
We couldn't move out of our current property until the 23rd of April as we missed the cut off date to hand our notice in by 6 days. But Beresford Adams spoke to the landlord of our perspective property and he agreed that we could have the first months rent from 1st of March to the 1st of April at half price rent, which really helped us out a lot.
We paid the reference fees on the 6th of March hoping that by the time the property was ready we could pay the deposit and half price rent and get the keys straight away, if only it was this simple.
We didn't really hear much from Beresford Adams at all during the next process and had to keep calling them to chase for a date when the property would be available to move in. We eventually got told on the 31st of March that we had to pay the deposit and rent TODAY or we couldn't get the half price rent. This came out of the blue as they hadn't been in contact with us very frequently at all. I left work during my lunch and went to the branch to pay and pick up the keys. When I got there I was handed the invoice that had an extra £300 'Agreement Fee' AND a £50 admin fee, Even after advertising it as having no admin fees and verbally agreeing with my FiancƒÂ©e that there would be no extra charges. I disputed this at time and was told the 'Agreement Fee' was to make all the contracts that we sign legally binding (have searched for this fee on the internet and can find no mention of it anywhere) and that the admin fee had to be added as we were paying half price rent? Once again no mention of this was made at any stage during the process until the time of payment. I was told that if I didn't pay there and then they could not offer us the half price rent, which would have meant paying an EXTRA 300 pounds on top of the already hefty bill of £1000+. I reluctantly agreed to pay as I had no other choice as we had already handed in our notice for our current property and would be homeless in 23 days otherwise. I was then told that the keys weren't actually at the branch and that I would have to travel back to Ruthin to pick them up.
When we finally picked the keys up we went to view the property. To say it was an absolute mess would be an understatement. Listed below is everything that we initially noticed after looking around the property for roughly 30 minutes.
Front Garden
To let sign was still there and had fallen down
Yard
Rubbish left
Previous tenants belongings such as a cat bowl left
Rotting bench left behind
All 3 recycling bins filled with the wrong rubbish, the council will refuse to pick these ups which would mean we would have had to empty and sort them.
Shed
Rubbish left behind, shed almost full
Utility area
Fridge left behind when I clearly stated to them that we did not want the fridge as we have all of our own furniture
Cabinet left behind with previous tenants belongings inside (for example - a baby grow, a necklace etc.!)
No tumble dryer after being promised this
Kitchen
Paint work on the walls was very messy, was obvious no effort at all was put into this.
Dish washer not working!
Paint marks and spots all over the floor of the kitchen
Hob and oven are dirty
Previous tenants belongings and even food, rubbish and cigarettes left in the drawers and cupboard
Under the stairs storage area
Rubbish left in here and previous tenants belongings!
Door to storage area is broken
Living Room
Paint marks all over the living room floor
Not enough light bulbs in the ALL light fittings
TV stand left behind - we didn't need any furniture
Plug socket broken and dangerous
Main Bedroom
No curtain or door fitted onto storage cupboard.
Second Bedroom
Sofa bed left behind - we didn't need any furtniture!!
Stickers on door
And the general cleanliness of the entire house was disgusting.
We have photos of all of the above.
That night we emailed Beresford Adams to tell them everything that was wrong with the property. My fiancƒÂ©e phoned them the next day to speak to them as well and got upset and cried down the phone. John, the lettings agent who she spoke to was completely not understanding of the situation. We had just paid £1300 to move into a property that looked like a bomb had gone off inside. After numerous phone calls to John my fiancƒÂ©e was eventually put through to Jayne the branch manager who proceeded to shout down the phone at Emily, her customer service skills are pathetic and she needs some serious training on how to deal with customers. Our complaints were not taken seriously until we sent them pictures of everything that we mentioned. Jayne proceeded to say that the property had been checked by a countrywide employee who said the property was fine, when Emily said that we would have no other option but to make a complaint to the Property Ombudsman Jayne shouted down the phone ¢â‚¬ËœThat's just jumping the gun' again, wow. I have been in the service industry for 10 years and I simply cannot imagine speaking to my customers that way.
Eventually, we were told that the landlord would rectify everything that was wrong with the property and that the first weeks rent (which we wouldn't even be living in the property for) will be free and that the rent would be lowered from £490 a month to £480. We accepted this offer in hope that everything will be fixed and tidied and we could just move in like we had always planned.
A week later we called Beresford Adams (god forbids they would ever call us to let us know what was happening) and we were told that the property was ready for us to move back into again.
We went back to look at the property, which on first inspection didn't look that bad. The flat had been tidied, the dishwasher had been fixed and a tumble dyer had been fitted. However, on closer inspection we realised that there were still some issues that needed to be fixed before this property was fit to rent.
The light fitting under the stairs didn't have a plug attached to it so wouldn't work, The To Let sign was still in the front garden, which had fallen over, the immersion heater switch was literally hanging off the wall and was in no safe state to use, the upstairs bathroom window handle had been snapped off and was literally impossible to close meaning it would have to be open constantly and to top all of that off, the gas meter was on -£17.50 and the electricity was on -£11.22.
Once again we took pictures of all of the above.
We again contacted Beresford Adams who said they would contact the landlord and let him know.
Meanwhile while all this was going on, I had contacted The Property Ombudsman regarding the £300 ¢â‚¬Ëœagreement' fee who told me over the phone that they had never heard of the fee and that I had been treated unfairly, they said that I should write to the Lettings agents and state that I would like a refund of the fee or I will be complaining to the Ombudsman. I also phoned up Beresford Adams Lettings in Chester to enquire what fees they charged for moving into a rented property. They stated that they charge £350 for everything, reference fees and admin fees and at no time in the conversation was ¢â‚¬Ëœagreement fee' mentioned, which again makes me think that Beresford Adams Wrexham made this charge up completely to try and milk more money out of us. After numerous ignored emails from John and Jayne we eventually got a reply stating that we would not be getting anything refunded apart from the £50 admin fee. I then went on to tell Jayne that I had no other option but to complain to the Ombudsman to which Jayne replied by forwarding the companies complaints procedure onto me.
This brings me to what happened yesterday on the 16th of April (My Birthday) I phoned John up to see what was happening with the house as we only had 1 week left on our currant tenancy before we become homeless. He proceeded to tell me that the landlord was not willing to do anything more with the flat. At first I just couldn't believe it, the flat is unsafe and dangerous to live in, and needs almost £30 of fuel before we can even move in and the landlord wasn't willing to do anything????
He asked if we would like to be released from the tenancy to which I replied ¢â‚¬Ëœyes' I then asked if we would receive a FULL refund of absolutely everything which we have paid, to which he said we would. I then emailed him to ask him to send to us in writing that we will be getting a full refund, I'll let you guess if we got a reply or not.
I then phoned him to ask him for an email, to which he replied that the area manager was on holiday and he needs her authorisation before he can send us the email, let alone transfer us the actual money. I phoned up Beresford Adams today and spoke to Jayne the branch manager who again was rude to me. I told her that we NEED that money returning so we can rent a new property as we will be HOMELESS in less than a week due to Beresford Adams, she then said that it wasn't them as she had a property for us to move into???? Even after she was made aware of all the problems? I then stated to her that the property was not safe to move into. I used the immersion heater switch hanging off the wall as an example and said it wasn't safe, to which she replied ¢â‚¬Ëœare you an electrician?' I couldn't believe was she was saying, I couldn't believe that a branch manager for a respected company can just talk to her customers in this way, especially after everything that we had gone through.
I called Jayne back at 3pm the same day and told her that I need to know what's happening as we need to use that money to put down on a new property to rent so we have somewhere to live. I also said that if I don't hear back from her by 4pm that I will have no other option but to go to the local papers regarding this matter. she proceeded to hang the phone up on me.
I called Countrywide to take this matter further, who to be fair were very nice and understanding and treated the matter with the urgency that I would expect. The lady who I spoke to said she would call Jayne and speak to her personally.
At 3:50 I then got a phone call from Jayne at Beresford Adams letting me know that they plan on paying NONE of the £1300 back to us that that we have paid, even after that being agreed with John on the phone and after everything that has happened to us.
I just cannot believe how this company treats its customers, and it really has left a very bad taste in our mouths over this. I can assure you that unless something drastic happens with the way we are treated now, there is no way we will ever use a Countrywide associated company again and every single person who we speak to who is looking at renting and buying will be told of how their customers are treated.
After 2 months of being told one thing over the phone by John, to being told a completely different thing by Jayne over email, Jayne shouting down the phone at us and hanging up, We are now £1300 out of pocket with no where to live in a week.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Dont lie and steal
Attached Filesnbsp;
6
people found
this helpful
Was this helpful?
Yes